Before the Parasite
by Cygnus Mues
Summary: The tru-er story of what happened when Torina woke up on the G.F.S. Olympus
1. Chapter 1

Before the Parasite

Torina took a long time to open her eyes. When she did, the only person in her hospital room was the woman in blue. She had strange, yellow hair, that was tied up on the back of her head, soft blue eyes that looked down at her with pity and kindness.

"_Where am I?" _Torina asked, looking at the strange room with new colors. "_Is this Toal's City?"_

The woman looked at her strangely, then shook her head. She stood up, then made motions with her hands, like she was holding something, and scooping it into her mouth.

Torina furrowed her brow, then put her hands in a position of holding a cup and holding it up to her lips, as if taking a sip.

The woman smiled and nodded; giving her a thumbs up as she opened the door, heading out into the hall, and closing it behind her.

_The woman seemed nice, but who knows if I am in prison?_ Torina thought, then swept back the blankets that were covering her, leaning to get up. But the balance was wrong. She had never noticed before how her legs had moved, but now, it felt rather awkward, as if there was something wrong. Looking down at her thighs, she suddenly understood why.

From her knees on, her legs were missing. Instead there was a big, black screw attached to her knees. Torina's shorts were a black at the ends, as if someone had put them too close to the fire. _Something burned my legs off... Was it her? What did that thumb up to the ceiling mean?_ She instinctively moved her dominant hand to feel the screws, to find that there was nothing to move.

Looking down at her right shoulder, and Torina pulled back the shredded, black sleeve with her left hand. She found a black casing around where her arm would have been. It looked like there was a hole leading into her shoulder, but it didn't look like there was any exposed wiring. _That is a small relief. _

Torina had hardly thought the words when the woman in blue walked back in, carrying a tray with some white stuff with a brown liquid covering it, a hunk of mystery meat, and a brown drink. She set it down on Torina's lap, then folded her arms across her chest. _What is with the color brown? _Torina thought. _If this were a bad place, wouldn't they eventually lose their temper at the smallest things?_ Then smiling mischievously, she grabbed the white and brown stuff, and through it at the woman in blue.

It hit her right in the face, smearing white and brown over some of her hair hanging down by her eyes. Torina giggled; the woman looked rather annoyed. With a swift movement that rather surprised her, the woman grabbed the strange drink and threw the liquid at Torina's face. It got all over her face and dripped down onto her brown shorts.

Torina looked up at the woman, who was giggling herself. Torina chuckled a bit, then attempted to wipe off the liquid with her hands. She stopped when she heard water running. Looking up, she saw the woman running a cloth under a sink with water coming out of a spout. The woman tapped the side of the sink and the water stopped running. Crossing the room, the woman handed the wet cloth to Torina, then headed back over to the sink to get the white and brown stuff out of her hair.

Torina furiously scrubbed her face and her shorts until they were adequately dry, and handed the cloth back to the woman, who's hair was a little wet. The woman threw the towel into the sink, then pressed a button on a fat disk on the floor, which had a chair nailed into the top of it. After the woman had pressed the button, the disk hovered about about shoulder height off the floor. She pointed to Torina, then at the floating chair, then back at Torina.

Torina nodded and motioned for her to bring the hover chair closer. The woman slid the chair by the bed and turned it off. The chair smoothly slid down to the floor as Torina rotated herself so that she was facing the same way the chair was. Grasping the woman's shoulder with her hand, she slid herself onto the chair and buckled herself in, giving the woman a thumbs up and smiling.

The woman smiled and gave her a thumbs up back, pressing a button on the chair. It shot up then slowed down when Torina's head was about where the woman's shoulder was. The woman laid a hand on it, and gently pushed it out the door.


	2. 2 12 wks After Arrival

**2 ½ Weeks after Arrival**

**(Note: When there is 'Jihana' and vague impressions on the troopers, it's from Tory's view. When they have the real names, it's from Samus's mind set.)**

Torina and Jihana, or _sister_, as she called the woman, were fast friends. Jihana didn't seem to mind Torina following her everywhere, and Torina didn't really get on with anybody else. They treated her either as a child, the non-existent personage, or the poor alien that couldn't understand them. Torina caught the gist of what everyone was saying by their facial expressions, and if she wanted to know something in particular, Jihanna would translate using their own intricate sign language, which made it difficult for Torina to communicate with anybody else.

So the Admiral Dane was forced to let Samus Aran (or Jihana) take Torina everywhere. Which is why Torina was in the back of Samus's gunship on their way to Aether. The air was silent, except for the gunships engines, and the occasional "click" of buttons.

Jihana had managed to tell Torina that they were going to a planet on an assignment, but their sign language didn't really let more than that get through. Torina was slightly nervous, wondering if this was a test on her abilities. But she reminded herself, as they landed on the rather barren planet, that assignment also meant "_chore_" or "_job_". It didn't necessarily mean "_test_".

The elevator let them down among a busy hub of workers, some of them the armored beings Torina had seen aboard the aircraft, others were bird like creatures that assisted those in armor.

"**We help?" **Torina signaled to Jihana, as they stepped out among the many beings on the surface.

"**We see no problem." **Jihana signaled back in their broken language, her orange suit looking a bit dull in the cloud cover. "**See no enemies do no harm."**

Torina nodded as Jihana walked on. That made sense. From what she could see of the airship, these people were policemen of the stars. Of course they would constantly make sure that regions of space were safe.

While Jihana jabbered to some of the men, Torina inspected her newly installed pegged legs. They were still a matter of an encumbrance to her; she couldn't walk naturally and they were still quite painful. She shrugged, letting her pant leg fall down to its natural position. It was better than being carted around in a hover chair. Too bad she didn't have a real arm. Torina looked at the metal stub in her right shoulder. _What a useless piece of junk._

"**Hey."** Samus waved and signaled. "**Man say problem this way. Come." **She began to walk into a tunnel behind some crates, Torina following behind some of the men, ignoring the looks she felt aimed at her from behind the masks of those left behind. In a way she was glad she didn't know the language. Then she couldn't understand the insults being hurled at her.

Jihana led Torina and the men through a series of tunnels and rooms into a condensed place with extremely tall plants that were surrounded by water. Small droplets of water were coming down every once in a while. The crew stopped and looked around, Jihana and the men whispering something to each other through their masks.

Apparently some of the men had been using it as a dump. There were casks everywhere, and some electronic equipment, as well as random bits and pieces of whatever.

Torina took a step forward into the water. A guard near by cried and began yelling furiously, hopping up and down on one foot. Jihana stepped toward him in an aggressive attitude. Torina furrowed her brow. Apparently, he was yelling at her. For what? She had just stepped into the murky water and- There must be something down there that him, and she couldn't feel it because she didn't have any nerves. She crouched down and began to feel around.

Samus and the men stopped yelling and watched her. Torina ignored them and continued searching. She stopped, patting something in the water. With an effort, Torina pulled something up, water rushing down to the earth.

It was a pipe, covered in slime, making the metal appear to be green. It was long, but Torina only held one end of it. The other end came up by the trooper who had been yelling.

The man cleared his throat, than held a thumb up in an apologetic manner. Torina smiled and, leaning the pipe against her shoulder, returned the gesture.

A great creature, two-legged and with many red eyes, leaped around one of the giant plants, growling and howling. Jihana and the men jumped out of the way, With a great heave, Torina swung the pipe, catching the creature in its horn. The thing recoiled, running into some of the debris.

It snarled, than reared its head up, the snout beginning to cackle and turn purple. Torina gripped the pipe determindly. Just before the creature fired its projectile, a trooper jumped up and tackled Torina. The two hit the water as the energy ball flew over them.

Torina angrily flicked her head, spitting out some of the slime. "_Next time, just tell me that I'm not allowed to attack anything alright?!"_

The trooper just rolled off, jumping up and shooting the Grenchler, along with the other troopers. Samus joined in, trying to get in back of it, noting that Torina did not stay in the mud either, but stood up, clenching the pipe.

The creature reared its big, ugly head, than charged forward. The men jumped out of the way, but Torina stood her ground, swinging the pipe, catching it again in its huge nose.

The Grenchler stepped back, then roared in pain. Samus had managed to get behind it and began firing charged shots, which broke the shell. The Grenchler screamed again when Samus fired at its unproctected back side.

The Grenchler swung its head from side to side before collapsing in the water. The group gathered around checking up on each other. As Samus joined them, they looked at her, then at Torina.

"So, she's not a little brat that can't fend for herself." One of them said rather embarresed.

"No, she' not." Samus said proudly. "She can fend for herself."

Torina tilted her head with a blank expression. Samus chuckled, remebering that she couldn't understand them. "**Let's go."** She said, leading the way to the tunnel.


	3. 3 Weeks

**3 Weeks After Arrival**

Torina lay on the bed, breathing deeply. They had her put on the clothes from her planet; the shorts and the shirt with the really small sleeves. She no longer had the peg legs, and she only wore the cover they had strapped over her shoulder.

Jihana walked over to her, looking rather nervous. Torina attempted a smile, and gave her a thumbs up. Jihana nodded and took her hand. She held it until Dr. Clark shooed her outside.

Samus waited outside the hospital room, hugging herself as she paced the room. Occasionally a yell would issue from the room, causing Samus to look up fearfully, then resume pacing when it stopped.

Rundas sat patiently, only looking up every once in a while at Samus. Ghor was there, too, playing a card game on the floor with Gandrayda.

The doors finally slid open, and a young woman stepped out followed by nurses and Dr, Clark. She limped forward, grimacing in pain every time she took a step. Her violet eyes shone with a determination that matched her fiery, red hair. She held her arms out for balance as she limped over to them.

"**Good?"** Samus asked, giving her a thumbs up.

Torina shook her head and gave her a thumbs down. "**Hurts."**

"Good evening, Hunters." Dr. Clark said, consulting an electronic clipboard. "We have attached the limbs to her nerves, so that will be a while getting used to. She should not walk if it hurts, and rest the arm, too, if it gets too bad. We were forced to give her black boots and a black arm so that she could pull in extra heat to help accommodate for the loss of heat from GX32. And she should take them off at night. Just to give her a break."

"Alright."

"We have not given her the chip with all the languages on it yet; the scientists want to make absolutely sure it works before we attach it to her brain."

"Good." Ghor said rather fiercely.

"Thank you very much, Dr." Rundas said as the two groups went their separate ways."

"Why on Olympus were you so worried, Sammy?" Gandrayda asked.

"Because she didn't know what was going on." Samus said, putting her arm around Torina's shoulder. "But mostly because she's my little sister."


	4. 1 Week

**1 Week**

Torina had never seen a mirror before. When she first walked by, she couldn't quite comprehend that they had not duplicated her and put her in a identical world. Today she was sitting on her hover board in front of it, running her hand through her long red hair.

She had often thought about the day she lost her arm and legs. She knew that the _fenjadors _(or _fire eaters)_ lived in the lava mines and that many of her people had lost bits of skin and nerves to them. But never had anybody she knew lost an entire limb.

The door slid open and Samus in her zero suit walked in, stopping behind Torina looking at the mirror.

"You have such pretty hair." Samus said in English.

Torina made motions with her hand as if she was hacking it off. She made her hand a pair of scissors, and pretended she was cutting her hair.

Samus sighed. "You want it cut?" She fingered Torina's long hair, thinking. Finally she sighed and shot at the door. It disappeared and Samus carted Torina through.

Once out in the hall, Torina and Samus would alternate pushing the chair down the walkway, almost hitting six people before reaching the barber shop.

Barbero Holic was a big man who enjoyed giving the crew buzz cuts. The Federation had hired him to make sure that the men had somebody who could keep their hair at military standard. The troopers only went to him if they were about to get court marshaled. Samus had never gone to him. Until today.

"Ah! Samus Aran!" Barbero Holic called out as she entered his small shop. "This is a first!"

"Not for me, you sinister blazen rezacka! My friend wants a hair cut."

"Ah!" Barbero bustled about grabbing razors and scissors. "I shall give her a nice short hair cut. Ano? And then-"

"Holic!" Samus snapped. "She wants a feminine hair cut."

Barbero dropped a basin of water. "A feminine hair cut?"he choked.

"Shoulder length."

"Shoulder length?" his eyes popped, and his mouth hang open. "B-but a feminine hair cut, i-it's a different median."

"And?"

"I-I have not worked with a girls hair since my second decade..." he trailed off when he saw the murderous look on Samus's face. He stood up smartly and saluted. "I will do my best!"

"You'd better."

Nervously, Barbero put Torina in position and sprayed her hair, then began snipping it off, ever aware that Samus was just behind him. Chunk after chunk of her hair fell to the floor, until Barbero stepped back for Samus's approval.

She frowned, scrutinizing the cut over Torina's shoulder in the mirror. "Classy." She said finally. "Yet a bit rough-ish. And I like the bangs sweeping over the side..." Torina gave a thumbs up and that clinched it. "Pretty good, Holic. My only question is why on Olympus do you not upgrade your equipment?"

"I like to do it old fashioned." Barbero shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.

Samus rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She latched on to the hover chair and carted Torina out the door.


	5. Before the First Day

One Day Before Olympus

It had been so long since Torina had seen another being besides the _Soulless_. These people that had just arrived were so different, she doubted that they came from nearby cosmos. She followed them all over Ta'lla, noting their slight interest in some of the the statues and writings on the walls.

There were four of them. The biggest one was square and silver, and he seemed to be all machine. The smallest one was purple, spikes coming out of the back of her head. The other two were roughly the same size, only one was blue and had no face and the other was mostly orange.

The four seemed to be friends. They did not speak her language, but she could tell that there was no harsh feelings among them, and while every once in a while they did hit each other, there did not erupt fist fights, and no one person seemed to think they were better than anybody else.

They had just reached the entrance to the Lava Mines, when Torina decided to trust them. She stopped sneaking around behind the machines and walked right up behind them. They all turned abruptly, not seeing a _Soulless _commander drop behind them.

Torina's eyes grew wide, and she pointed. They pivoted, just as he began his attack. Backed up against the door to the inner mines, he had no place to go except over their heads and that would be a problem. Above the _Soulless_, there was a huge lever which allowed the door to open for sixty ticks, even when there was no power. If they could get that open...

Torina darted up the stairs, barely missing a projectile that went a astray. She lid to the lever, and grasping it, she shoved it forward, the gears grinding in protest. Weight systems began to crank as they door was pulled open. She could see the foursome push the _Soulless _back, but they would never get in the room in time.

Torina leapt over the railing of the ledge, dropping down to the original level. Just when she reached the grounded, she charged like a raxtus-bull, ramming into the blue one and the orange one, shoving them inside the room, just before the door swung closed.

The blue and orange ones tripped and the _Soulless _hissed, than darted forward, grabbing at Torina's throat. She shoved the arm away and tried to punch the face. He in turned clamped his jaws down on her fingers. Torina shrieked in pain and kicked as hard as she could. He howled, letting go of Torina's hand.

The orange and blue ones were up, firing at the _Soulless, _who backed away glancing over its shoulder at the bubbling magma behind him. Strange, skeletal beings half rose out of the magma eying the _Soulless_ with apprehension.

" _Fenjadors." _Torina whispered. She knew these creatures. They were necessary for creating steal, but the creatures often ate more material things than fire. Man for instance. Bone, her bleeding hand, Torina ran forward, and jumped aiming to kick the _Soulless_ in the chest, hopefully sending him back into the lake.

Instead, he grabbed her foot and swung her around, letting go just at the right moment so that she flew into the wall, her head hitting a rock that jutted out from the rest of its surroundings. Groaning, Torina fell to the earth, barely not rolling into the lake of lava.

Though that did not stop the Fenjadors. While the _Soulless _dueled the two strangers, they leapt onto the land, bringing much of the liquid fire with them. They crawled over to Torina, who lay sprawled on the ground, her head leaking blood.

Her sight was fading, as were all her senses. Something touched her broken hand, but she couldn't do more than twitch. Blackness began to envelope her as she fought to rise, but nothing would awnser. Even her eyes closed and the Fenjador began to feast eagerly.


End file.
